The position of minister is for many career politicians an unreachable goal. Out of the thousand politicians in the country, only a handful ever reach the highest echelons of the Swedish government. Moreover, in the case that someone becomes a minister, age has usually started to catch up to them. This, however, is not always the universal truth, which the subject of this article clearly proves.
Romina Pourmokhtari, today 30 years old has already been president of the Swedish liberal Youth, she has been named the most powerful Swedish politician under 30, holds a seat in the Swedish parliament, and, at the age of 26, she ascended to the position of Minister for climate and the environment, thus becoming the youngest Minister in Swedish history.
What is the secret behind Romina´s meteoric rise? What is the government doing to counteract climate change? Does Romina prefer Uppsala or Lund? Nådiga Lundtan sets out to find the answers in this interview with Romina Pourmokthari herself.
“ I have never been interested in saying the things other people want to hear”
Romina’s rapid career begs the obvious question: What is her secret to success? In answer to this, Romina herself highlights her independence from politics as a contributing factor, saying that she never feels the need to say things other people want to hear. Many politicians, according to Romina, simply reiterate a talking point that has been written to them, instead of saying what they actually think. According to Romina, her willingness to say what she thinks has given her an air of authenticity, which people appreciate. However, despite Romina’s aspiration to not say what people want to hear, she deviates from this sentiment when it comes to her own party, the Liberals (Liberalerna), by stating that they should probably think more about saying what people want to hear. The liberals have been performing badly in the polls, and are currently not exceeding the 4% required for a seat in parliament. Romina describes this as her biggest challenge: when representing a small party, it is harder to show the voters why you are important.
“ I can build an endless amount of sea-based windfarms, but that does not matter if China builds a hundred times more coal power plants”
For many years now, climate change and the environment has been one of the most relevant questions in Swedish politics. As for the current government´s work within the area, Romina has a positive outlook, claiming that Sweden, among other things, has strong environmental regulations, and the lowest per capita emissions in the European Union. Despite this, the government´s climate policies have been under scrutiny and continually become the subject of criticism, especially from the opposition. Notably, Romina faced a vote of no confidence in parliament, and the environmental spokesperson for the social-democrats has demanded her resignation. Romina responds to this critique by saying that none of the other parties in parliament has a viable plan to meet the climate goals, which in her opinion, also happen to be very ambitious goals. When it comes to her approach to counteracting climate change, Romina emphasises multinational collaboration, particularly in the EU. Romina says that Sweden has to strengthen their focus on what is happening in other parts of the world, rather than incessantly fight about the national climate goals. Regarding how Sweden is supposed to affect countries like China and the petroleum states in the Middle East, Romina stresses the importance of providing solutions to the climate crisis that has potential for financial gain.
“ The last four years have worked well, and Sweden needs at least four more years like this”
The current government coalition consists of four parties: three in the government and one supporting the government. The supporting party, Sverigedemokraterna, is a far-right nationalist party, which, at its inception, was closely tied to neo-nazist movements. Romina, along with her party, has been a vocal critic of Sverigedemokraterna, stating that they would not be willing to be in a government with them. Sverigedemokraterna, on the other hand, has demanded positions in the government. This has, of course, created a potential deadlock in the upcoming election. When asked about her party’s stance in the upcoming election, Romina highlights the importance of a stable government, which she means the current coalition has been. Additionally, Romina expressed that prior governments had been characterised by instability, for example the prior social democratic government, where the prime minister Magdalena Andersson got elected and deposed as prime minister within the span of seven hours. To avoid this, Romina supports four more years with the same government coalition, but is, still, not supportive of Sverigedemokraterna being part of the government.
Rapid fire questions:
If Swedish climate politics were an exam, what would Sweden fail at?
Romania’s answer: The sea
Which ministerial position would you choose if you weren’t minister for climate and the environment?
Romania’s answer: I would choose minister for climate and the environment over and over again, but if I had to choose another one, I would probably choose finance minister, since they allocate the money, which would be good for the environment.
Do you prefer a government led by the Social democrats or a right wing government with Sverigedemokraterna in them?
Romina’s answer: Impossible to answer, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Do you prefer Uppsala or Lund?
Romina’s answer: I like Lund but I have studied in Uppsala, so I am going to have to pick Uppsala.
Finally, I asked Romina if she had any message she wanted to convey to the readers of Nådiga Lundtan. On that note, she said that she did not want to convey or promote any campaign slogan for the election, but rather encourage everyone that is worried about the climate to search for a job where they can truly work for the betterment of the environment. Furthermore, she claimed that a true climate-hero is someone who enters a dirty company and cleans it up.
